Meadow

History

According to lexicographer Noah Webster (1828), meadow referred “to the low ground on the banks of rivers . . . whether grassland, pasture, tillage, or wood land,” or low-lying lands that were particularly “appropriated to the culture of grass.” Both definitions of the term “meadow” were used in the American context.

Eighteenth-century maps of New York and Boston show “salt meadows” along rivers. Like kitchen gardens or orchards, meadows played a key role in early American husbandry, and descriptive accounts of productive farms and estates often mention meadows, particularly when they gave the landscape a rich or well-cultivated appearance. Meadows ranged in size from the 12-acre meadow noted in a 1747 newspaper advertisement to the estimated 50 acres of meadow attached to an estate in Pennsylvania. In an 1807 plan of South Union, Ohio, a meadow was located in close proximity to the residences and between areas designated as woods and a cornfield [Fig. 1]. Since meadows were largely covered with grass, they could provide sustenance for cattle. Indeed, A. J. Downing, in describing the benefits of parks, frequently instructed homeowners to regard them as meadows where their cattle could graze. The cultivation of grass rendered “meadow” synonymous with “pasture,” which Webster defined as grounds covered with grass appropriated for the food of cattle, and hence these terms frequently were used interchangeably.

Although meadows were primarily associated with agricultural production, they were often part of a consciously designed landscape, as at “Newington,” Pa. [Fig. 2]. They were also included in plans for plantations and ornamental farms (see Ferme ornée). Eighteenth-century British gardening treatises, for example, endorsed the incorporation of agricultural features into ornamental contexts: Batty Langley (1728) recommended “Little Walks by purling streams in Meadows” as “delightful Entertainments.”

In many instances, meadows accomplished the same aesthetic results as lawns, including framing desired objects or views. At the eighteenth-century estate of West-over on the James River in Virginia, for example, meadows watered by canals lined the road leading to the mansion and signaled one’s arrival to the “improved grounds” surrounding the house. According to François-Alexandre-Frédéric duc de la Rochefoucauld Liancourt (1799), Dr. Baron of Charleston, S.C., wanted to buy an area of flat land between his garden and the river to convert it to a meadow that could frame views of the distant prospect. Pierre Pharoux, in his plan for Baron von Steuben’s estate in Mohawk Valley, N.Y., likewise used meadows carved out of woods to ensure visual access to the prospect [Fig. 3].

Meadows were closely related to parks and lawns; Downing on occasion referred to “meadow parks” and “meadow-lawns” (see Lawn and Park). Nevertheless, in at least one article in the Horticulturist, he distinguished between lawns and meadows, arguing that lawns were composed of firm, close, and short grass, while coarser (and presumably taller) grasses with meadow flowers made up meadows. Moreover, lawns were often trimmed and rolled to maintain their appearance, while the primary method of maintaining meadows was to allow animals to graze.

Like lawns and bowling greens, the open grassy areas of meadows also provided space for sports and other leisure entertainments, as mentioned by a teacher in Salem, N.C., in 1817, who observed children playing round ball in the meadow of a tavern.

-- Anne L. Helmreich